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Other Worlds: Peasants, Pilgrims, Spirits, Saints
Stories about the occult, folk religions, superstition, and spiritual customs in Russia by one of the most essential twentieth-century writers of short fiction and essays.
Though best known for her comic and satirical sketches of pre-Revolutionary Russia, Teffi was a writer of great range and human sympathy. The stories on otherworldly themes in this collection are some of her finest and most profound, displaying the acute psychological sensitivity beneath her characteristic wit and surface brilliance.
Other Worlds presents stories from across the whole of Teffi’s long career, from her early days as a literary celebrity in Moscow to her post-Revolutionary years as an émigré in Paris. In the early story “A Quiet Backwater,” a laundress gives a long disquisition on the name days of the flora and fauna and on the Feast of the Holy Ghost, a day on which “no one dairnst disturb the earth.” The story “Wild Evening” is about the fear of the unknown; “The Kind That Walk,” a penetrating study of antisemitism and of xenophobia; and “Baba Yaga,” about the archetypal Russian witch and her longing for wildness and freedom. Teffi traces the persistent influence of the ancient Slavic gods in superstitions and customs, and the deep connection of the supernatural to everyday life in the provinces. In “Volya,” the autobiographical final story, the power and pain of Baba Yaga is Teffi’s own.
Though best known for her comic and satirical sketches of pre-Revolutionary Russia, Teffi was a writer of great range and human sympathy. The stories on otherworldly themes in this collection are some of her finest and most profound, displaying the acute psychological sensitivity beneath her characteristic wit and surface brilliance.
Other Worlds presents stories from across the whole of Teffi’s long career, from her early days as a literary celebrity in Moscow to her post-Revolutionary years as an émigré in Paris. In the early story “A Quiet Backwater,” a laundress gives a long disquisition on the name days of the flora and fauna and on the Feast of the Holy Ghost, a day on which “no one dairnst disturb the earth.” The story “Wild Evening” is about the fear of the unknown; “The Kind That Walk,” a penetrating study of antisemitism and of xenophobia; and “Baba Yaga,” about the archetypal Russian witch and her longing for wildness and freedom. Teffi traces the persistent influence of the ancient Slavic gods in superstitions and customs, and the deep connection of the supernatural to everyday life in the provinces. In “Volya,” the autobiographical final story, the power and pain of Baba Yaga is Teffi’s own.
284 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2021
49 people are currently reading
1453 people want to read
About the author
Teffi
112 books70 followersTeffi (Тэффи) was a Russian humorist writer. Teffi is a pseudonym. Her real name was Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya (Надежда Александровна Лoхвицкая); after her marriage Buchinskaya (Бучинская). Together with Arkady Averchenko she was one of the most prominent authors of the Satiricon magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
April 18, 2024
The stories are many… They are idiosyncratic and colourful… Irony in combination with bizarreness…
Kishmish is a kind of very small and very sweet raisin from the Caucasus… She is a little girl nicked Kishmish… Child’s fears… Child’s dreams… Child’s hopes… Child’s reality…
Almost primordial existence of peasants… Illiteracy and savagery… Incredible blend of faith and superstitions…
Solovki is a story of a pilgrimage to the Solovetsky Monastery…
Boondocks… Supernatural manifestations… Otherworldly beings… Witches… Evil spirits… Vampires…
Vurdalak is a grotesque tale of vampirism…
Obscurity always tends to be interpreted in a supernatural way.
Kishmish is a kind of very small and very sweet raisin from the Caucasus… She is a little girl nicked Kishmish… Child’s fears… Child’s dreams… Child’s hopes… Child’s reality…
Barely breathing, the little girl lying in bed curls into a small ball. She listens and watches, listens and watches.
The distant hum is becoming sinister. The little girl is all alone and defenseless. If she calls, no one will come. But what can happen? Night must be ending now. Probably the cocks have greeted the dawn and the ghosts are all back where they belong.
And they belong in cemeteries, in bogs, in lonely graves under simple crosses, or by forsaken crossroads on the outskirts of forests.
Almost primordial existence of peasants… Illiteracy and savagery… Incredible blend of faith and superstitions…
Solovki is a story of a pilgrimage to the Solovetsky Monastery…
Outside the chapel of Saint Philaret, the pilgrims took it in turn to lift the long stone that had once served Philaret as a pillow. They balanced it on their heads and walked three times clockwise around the chapel – a cure for headaches.
Boondocks… Supernatural manifestations… Otherworldly beings… Witches… Evil spirits… Vampires…
Vurdalak is a grotesque tale of vampirism…
Awkwardly, without looking at him, Galasha lifted the baby up to his shoulder. And suddenly, shaking violently, the baby scratched like a cat at Galasha’s fine coat and bit his uncle on the neck. Galasha yelled in shock and almost dropped his nephew on the floor. The horrified mother only just caught him in time. Galasha rubbed his neck and stared at Venyushka, his eyes on stalks.
“God, what is this creature?” he muttered. “What a terror. A vampire – a real Vurdalak!”
Obscurity always tends to be interpreted in a supernatural way.
December 12, 2022
This is a selected collection of stories from Teffi's books of short stories, in a chronological order.
It is her writing from later in her career that is most appealing to me.
In the first of five parts of the book, The Lifeless Beast, the writing is more serious, and less inclined to the fantastical, really interesting as period and historical pieces, but less entertaining than what is to come.
The last two stories in Part Three, The Book of June, and Part Four, Witch, are where the stories become compelling. They are based on Teffi's own memories of her childhood.
"Wild Evening” is about fear of the unknown. With the exception of a wandering peddler, everyone in the story, the young Teffi, the monks, even the horse, are in a state of terror. All around there lurks threatening forces, whether it is simply the darkness, cattle plague, or the recent dead.
In “Shapeshifter” a stranger’s chance intervention prompts the young girl (Teffi herself) to decide against marriage to a mysterious lawyer.
Much of Witch is based on Teffi’s recollections of her childhood summers in Volhynia in the mountain foothills of what is now western Ukraine, not far from the Polish border.
I was riding my bike there during my trip through the Carpathians just six years ago, it is great country.
It is in Part Four, selections from her book Witch, where Teffi really comes into her own. These are stories of Russian folklore legend, beautiful and yet haunting, deep-rooted in the forest, easy to read. In most of them, at some stage, the author inserts herself into the tale, an indication perhaps of the time of her childhood that she was first told them, and of how her imagination built them to what they are here. A mix of good and evil spirits with just the appropriate dash of humour sprinkled in.
About The House concerns the house spirit, the domovoy, ‘a serious being. He is fair and just, and he takes care of the house, all family concerns, and the stables. For some reason, he’s not interested in the other animals - only the horses.’
In The Bathhouse Devil we learn something of the history of the banya.
‘You weren’t supposed to hang an icon there, which was what made it so scary. Nor would anyone ever have taken it into their head to go to the bathhouse alone. Ever since medieval times God-fearing people have had a disapproving attitude toward washing. It’s a sinful business, parading around in just your flesh.’
The wildest young girls would go to the bathhouse at night and look into the mirror, where it was reputed they would see the man destined to be their love. Though on occasions, instead of their love, the girl sees ‘something coming at her that is so very wicked and evil that no magic words will banish it’.
I am looking forward to reading her work more widely.
It is her writing from later in her career that is most appealing to me.
In the first of five parts of the book, The Lifeless Beast, the writing is more serious, and less inclined to the fantastical, really interesting as period and historical pieces, but less entertaining than what is to come.
The last two stories in Part Three, The Book of June, and Part Four, Witch, are where the stories become compelling. They are based on Teffi's own memories of her childhood.
"Wild Evening” is about fear of the unknown. With the exception of a wandering peddler, everyone in the story, the young Teffi, the monks, even the horse, are in a state of terror. All around there lurks threatening forces, whether it is simply the darkness, cattle plague, or the recent dead.
In “Shapeshifter” a stranger’s chance intervention prompts the young girl (Teffi herself) to decide against marriage to a mysterious lawyer.
Much of Witch is based on Teffi’s recollections of her childhood summers in Volhynia in the mountain foothills of what is now western Ukraine, not far from the Polish border.
I was riding my bike there during my trip through the Carpathians just six years ago, it is great country.
It is in Part Four, selections from her book Witch, where Teffi really comes into her own. These are stories of Russian folklore legend, beautiful and yet haunting, deep-rooted in the forest, easy to read. In most of them, at some stage, the author inserts herself into the tale, an indication perhaps of the time of her childhood that she was first told them, and of how her imagination built them to what they are here. A mix of good and evil spirits with just the appropriate dash of humour sprinkled in.
About The House concerns the house spirit, the domovoy, ‘a serious being. He is fair and just, and he takes care of the house, all family concerns, and the stables. For some reason, he’s not interested in the other animals - only the horses.’
In The Bathhouse Devil we learn something of the history of the banya.
‘You weren’t supposed to hang an icon there, which was what made it so scary. Nor would anyone ever have taken it into their head to go to the bathhouse alone. Ever since medieval times God-fearing people have had a disapproving attitude toward washing. It’s a sinful business, parading around in just your flesh.’
The wildest young girls would go to the bathhouse at night and look into the mirror, where it was reputed they would see the man destined to be their love. Though on occasions, instead of their love, the girl sees ‘something coming at her that is so very wicked and evil that no magic words will banish it’.
I am looking forward to reading her work more widely.
March 19, 2022
4.5
I thoroughly enjoyed this, even though it took me a while to read. A Russian short story collection written by a woman that should not be forgotten, about peasants, pilgrims, spirits and saints. The ones with fairytale/folklore elements were my favourite, although some of the peasant ones were also really good, like Yavdokha. These short stories were all published between 1916 and 1952, so it counts as a Russian classic, right? Well, regardless, I want to read more of Russian literature because this was wonderful. The scenery, the characters, the folklore, the plots, the writing!
I highly recommend this to anyone who loved the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden, and those who are intimidated by the BIG Russian classics like Anna Karenina or War and Peace and want something more manageable to begin with.
Of course, I didn't enjoy all of them as much, but my favourites were: Kishmish (about a girls who tries to be a saint and fails), Soul in Bond (about an old woman who made a life ruining mistake without realising it), Yavdokha (about a peasant woman), Witch (about a family who thinks their servant is a witch), About the House (about the different house spirits), Bathhouse Devil (well, the title says it all), Shapeshifters (werewolves and werecats), The Dog (about a loyal lover and war), Baba Yaga.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, even though it took me a while to read. A Russian short story collection written by a woman that should not be forgotten, about peasants, pilgrims, spirits and saints. The ones with fairytale/folklore elements were my favourite, although some of the peasant ones were also really good, like Yavdokha. These short stories were all published between 1916 and 1952, so it counts as a Russian classic, right? Well, regardless, I want to read more of Russian literature because this was wonderful. The scenery, the characters, the folklore, the plots, the writing!
I highly recommend this to anyone who loved the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden, and those who are intimidated by the BIG Russian classics like Anna Karenina or War and Peace and want something more manageable to begin with.
Of course, I didn't enjoy all of them as much, but my favourites were: Kishmish (about a girls who tries to be a saint and fails), Soul in Bond (about an old woman who made a life ruining mistake without realising it), Yavdokha (about a peasant woman), Witch (about a family who thinks their servant is a witch), About the House (about the different house spirits), Bathhouse Devil (well, the title says it all), Shapeshifters (werewolves and werecats), The Dog (about a loyal lover and war), Baba Yaga.
July 21, 2025
Absolutely fantastic--in the sense of fantasy and in the sense of thoroughly enjoyable to read. A bit spine-tingling (a baby that's maybe a vampire???) and eerie and really good literary weird. There was enough religion, even for me! I loved, loved reading top-notch Russian short stories that were not northern bleakness (Teffi is from an area in modern-day Ukraine, though it was Russia in her time and she considers it and herself Russian) and about village life, not high society! I loved the translations by the Chandlers and others. My worst book habit is reading all the back matter first, and going in with the knowledge from the translation note was amazingly helpful. The notes were great and this NYRB edition is simply yummy. Plus, it's not a massive collection, and would be great for someone who's run out of Pushkin et al.
Highly recommended for readers of Russian literature who want something a little different, or anyone who's a fan of slightly eldritch short stories (for a bit of that summer campfire ghost story feel without being keep-you-up-at-night creepy).
Highly recommended for readers of Russian literature who want something a little different, or anyone who's a fan of slightly eldritch short stories (for a bit of that summer campfire ghost story feel without being keep-you-up-at-night creepy).
September 24, 2021
Teffi’s Other Worlds – Peasants, Pilgrims, Spirits, Saints
Invoking peasant folklore, wit, and reasoning, Teffi’s tales tread the tightrope between culture and nature. This difference, invoked in the final piece ‘Volya’ threatens to unbalance you, and tip you into the wild folk logic of unbridled freedom, landscape, and magic. Or even beguiling you like the Slavic mermaid ‘Rusalka’, sitting on a bough and luring you to her lakeside with the beauty of bitter tears. Combing her cascading long hair, she hides the fateful threat of monstrous scales in the long grasses of water’s edge.
There is a strong variety in the wide span of Chandler’s selection of tales. They range from different periods of Teffi’s career, starting with ‘Kishmish’, a semi-autobiographical piece about a young girls first communion, and the binding angst of inner-conflict and secret mysticism. Then bringing in earlier tales of the Symbolist period and up to the Revolution, and later émigré writings that recall pre-exile peasant and village life that is bound in collective taletelling. However, the volume’s coherence is felt in the desire to recall these communities. The legends and mysteries presented aren’t just simple children’s fairy tales but are retold in a way demonstrates a how pervasive these beliefs can be. They underpin folk superstition where the role of the imaginary takes on new dimensions in understanding and reconciling oneself to the mysteries of life. And in their retelling, often spun on a simple turn of phrase - a revealed pregnancy, or a reinterpreted fate - Teffi turns these tales inside out at the last moment, twisting them into a new dimension of meaning that allows us to see the potential beauty of a profounder beyond.
The collective effort of translating these has allowed many fine nuances to the different stories, meaning that each tale has its own specific coherence, whilst also sitting within the broader volume (e.g., variably translating ‘domovoy’ as house-spirit and ‘the master’ or keeping the Russian original in a different tale depending on characterisation and context, whilst not reverting to close but misleading equivalences such as the Scottish Brownie).
Occasionally the stories are slower in pace, and on a first read don’t have quite the pay-off hoped for in their frequent lack of resolution. But Teffi does not write gothic horror or comics with superpowers. These tales are invitations to consider the potential of not resolving a story, finding humour and even meaning by making room for alternative worlds that enrich our experience of life’s oddities. And in the finest of these (and my favourite), ‘Solovki’, Teffi soars. Just as her seagulls see off pilgrims to confession at the Solovetsy Islands Monastery, tipping from side to side in their striding flight, she alternates between nature and culture, the sea her text. She leaves the reader to look at the tale’s white-night sky, bewildered at the disappearance of the dark, caught between the dual crimson fires of its simultaneously rising and setting sun.
Invoking peasant folklore, wit, and reasoning, Teffi’s tales tread the tightrope between culture and nature. This difference, invoked in the final piece ‘Volya’ threatens to unbalance you, and tip you into the wild folk logic of unbridled freedom, landscape, and magic. Or even beguiling you like the Slavic mermaid ‘Rusalka’, sitting on a bough and luring you to her lakeside with the beauty of bitter tears. Combing her cascading long hair, she hides the fateful threat of monstrous scales in the long grasses of water’s edge.
There is a strong variety in the wide span of Chandler’s selection of tales. They range from different periods of Teffi’s career, starting with ‘Kishmish’, a semi-autobiographical piece about a young girls first communion, and the binding angst of inner-conflict and secret mysticism. Then bringing in earlier tales of the Symbolist period and up to the Revolution, and later émigré writings that recall pre-exile peasant and village life that is bound in collective taletelling. However, the volume’s coherence is felt in the desire to recall these communities. The legends and mysteries presented aren’t just simple children’s fairy tales but are retold in a way demonstrates a how pervasive these beliefs can be. They underpin folk superstition where the role of the imaginary takes on new dimensions in understanding and reconciling oneself to the mysteries of life. And in their retelling, often spun on a simple turn of phrase - a revealed pregnancy, or a reinterpreted fate - Teffi turns these tales inside out at the last moment, twisting them into a new dimension of meaning that allows us to see the potential beauty of a profounder beyond.
The collective effort of translating these has allowed many fine nuances to the different stories, meaning that each tale has its own specific coherence, whilst also sitting within the broader volume (e.g., variably translating ‘domovoy’ as house-spirit and ‘the master’ or keeping the Russian original in a different tale depending on characterisation and context, whilst not reverting to close but misleading equivalences such as the Scottish Brownie).
Occasionally the stories are slower in pace, and on a first read don’t have quite the pay-off hoped for in their frequent lack of resolution. But Teffi does not write gothic horror or comics with superpowers. These tales are invitations to consider the potential of not resolving a story, finding humour and even meaning by making room for alternative worlds that enrich our experience of life’s oddities. And in the finest of these (and my favourite), ‘Solovki’, Teffi soars. Just as her seagulls see off pilgrims to confession at the Solovetsy Islands Monastery, tipping from side to side in their striding flight, she alternates between nature and culture, the sea her text. She leaves the reader to look at the tale’s white-night sky, bewildered at the disappearance of the dark, caught between the dual crimson fires of its simultaneously rising and setting sun.
May 1, 2021
What a delightful surprise this book was. This is a selection of stories written over a 4 decade period, and as a result, the stories cover a range of styles. The stories can probably be broken down into 3 groups: stories about the Russian Orthodox Church, semi-folkloric looks at Russian peasant superstitions and ghost/supernatural stories. I was initially least interested in the church stories, but there are only a handful of them and they are actually quite witty. Not all of the "folklore" stories quite work as stories but they are all interesting. The "ghost" stories are the best and most numerous of the lot. Like most Americans I suspect, I had never heard of Teffi before I read this book, but she is one of those discoveries that make you want to tell everyone you know about her. I'm looking forward to reading more by her.
November 3, 2021
The stories using Russian folklore are really good.
December 31, 2025
What a hidden gem!
A collection of short stories by a Russian author from different decades (1916, 1924, 1931 and 1932, 1952), surrounding Russian folklore.
My favorite were:
Kishmish, 1952 - a little girl who tries to be a proper saint, but the world doesn’t make it easy. Too much trouble, eventually.
“Oh, if only she could get to be a saint. How marvelous that would be! So beautiful, so fine and sweet. To be a saint was above everything and everyone. More important than any teacher, headmistress, or even provincial governor.”
“Poor Kishmish.
And so she remained a sinner.”
Wild Evening, 1924 - a horse, and creepy monastery in the middle of the night.
“All as bleak as bleak can be. I was close to tears.”
“One was considered a beauty and the other a freak, but, though I knew these ladies many years, I never managed to work out which was which.”
Witch, 1936 - A maid, a bunch of chairs, an accident or the work of supernatural forces?
“Sometimes, when you think back, you can’t help wondering: Were people really like that? Was life really like that?
Needless to say, you couldn’t ever talk about all this to a foreigner.
He wouldn’t understand, and he wouldn’t believe a word you said. But a real Russian—if he hasn’t forgotten his past altogether—he’s sure to accept it as truth, and he’ll be right.”
Vurdalak, 1936 - A man, and a vampire baby.
“We believed everything Lisa said; otherwise life would have been far too flat and boring.”
Leshachikha, 1936 - A wild child, perhaps a werewolf.
“If a forest seems dark, this is not only because of its color but also because of the dark forces that inhabit it.
A child’s forest ishome to wolves. Not the kind ofwolf that hunt- ers go after, like a sinewy dog with a thick, strong neck, but the master ofthe forest, an all-powerful creature that speaks with ahuman voice and eats grandmothers alive. Children hear about this creature from fairy tales, before seeing it in pictures, and so to a child’s imag- ination this wolf isfiercer and more monstrous than anything they may encounter later in our humdrum world.”
“What kind of accursed forest was this, full of murderous trees?”
About the House, 1936 - Regarding the spirits inhabiting the house, and their relationship to the family living in it.
“Can these little beings be seen? They can—but not by everyone.
They can only be seen by children, by people in bed with a high fever, and by drunks. And not by any old run-of-the-mill drunk, only by the well and truly blind drunk, by those who can see double.”
Rusalka, 1936 - A woman with a fish tail, a water spirit
“Why oh why has the mistress not noticed? But do our masters ever believe us? More foolish than fools, they are. God help us.”
Shapeshifters, 1936 - Female werewolves (and were-cats), tiny stories, and a lesbian shapeshifter baroness playing petty tricks!
“Nearly always she-wolves—only rarely male—they lure hunters into danger: into bogs in the autumn, onto patches of thin ice in winter. Or they trick a hunter into entering an estate where he is far from welcome. He need only show his face there for some tragic course of events to be set in motion, leading perhaps to his death or the death of one of his family.
Western cultures too have their werewolf legends. In some of these legends the she-wolves have no wish to do evil; they simply want to be free. A wife, perhaps, trapped in a forbidding castle, and always under the watchful eye of a cruel and unloved husband. Something inside her longs to break loose. She longs to roam field and forest, free and unbridled. And she doesn’t want to slip into the skin of a timid rabbit or a cautious fox. She doesn’t even choose the guise of a strong yet good-natured bear. Desperate to escape the yoke, she dreams fangs and claws. A dark and mighty strength, swift legs, a sinister howl. The imprisoned soul yearns for freedom; she who has been chained to the spot longs to run wild. The frightened heart seeks to frighten; the ruined, to avenge and ruin.”
The Kind That Walk - a carpenter who came back from the dead
“Just think—a man who has been carried off by the devil! How often, in our humdrum world, do we come face-to-face with such a person?”
Volya, 1952
"We Russians, the children of Old Russia, were born with this feeling of volya.
Peasant children, children of the rich bourgeoisie, children of the intelligentsia—regardless ofbackground and upbringing, allsensed and understood the call of volya.”
“There we have it—the eternal aim of the Russian soul.
To go where your eyes look.
Like in the old fairy tales—to go thither, I know not whither.”
“We Russians are not so cut off from nature as Europeans. We have only a thin over lay of culture; nature can quickly and easily pierce through it. In spring, when the earth awakes and her voices grow louder, summoning us to volya, we have no choice but to follow her resonant call. We are like mice in thrall to a medieval sorcerer playing a pipe.”
A collection of short stories by a Russian author from different decades (1916, 1924, 1931 and 1932, 1952), surrounding Russian folklore.
My favorite were:
Kishmish, 1952 - a little girl who tries to be a proper saint, but the world doesn’t make it easy. Too much trouble, eventually.
“Oh, if only she could get to be a saint. How marvelous that would be! So beautiful, so fine and sweet. To be a saint was above everything and everyone. More important than any teacher, headmistress, or even provincial governor.”
“Poor Kishmish.
And so she remained a sinner.”
Wild Evening, 1924 - a horse, and creepy monastery in the middle of the night.
“All as bleak as bleak can be. I was close to tears.”
“One was considered a beauty and the other a freak, but, though I knew these ladies many years, I never managed to work out which was which.”
Witch, 1936 - A maid, a bunch of chairs, an accident or the work of supernatural forces?
“Sometimes, when you think back, you can’t help wondering: Were people really like that? Was life really like that?
Needless to say, you couldn’t ever talk about all this to a foreigner.
He wouldn’t understand, and he wouldn’t believe a word you said. But a real Russian—if he hasn’t forgotten his past altogether—he’s sure to accept it as truth, and he’ll be right.”
Vurdalak, 1936 - A man, and a vampire baby.
“We believed everything Lisa said; otherwise life would have been far too flat and boring.”
Leshachikha, 1936 - A wild child, perhaps a werewolf.
“If a forest seems dark, this is not only because of its color but also because of the dark forces that inhabit it.
A child’s forest ishome to wolves. Not the kind ofwolf that hunt- ers go after, like a sinewy dog with a thick, strong neck, but the master ofthe forest, an all-powerful creature that speaks with ahuman voice and eats grandmothers alive. Children hear about this creature from fairy tales, before seeing it in pictures, and so to a child’s imag- ination this wolf isfiercer and more monstrous than anything they may encounter later in our humdrum world.”
“What kind of accursed forest was this, full of murderous trees?”
About the House, 1936 - Regarding the spirits inhabiting the house, and their relationship to the family living in it.
“Can these little beings be seen? They can—but not by everyone.
They can only be seen by children, by people in bed with a high fever, and by drunks. And not by any old run-of-the-mill drunk, only by the well and truly blind drunk, by those who can see double.”
Rusalka, 1936 - A woman with a fish tail, a water spirit
“Why oh why has the mistress not noticed? But do our masters ever believe us? More foolish than fools, they are. God help us.”
Shapeshifters, 1936 - Female werewolves (and were-cats), tiny stories, and a lesbian shapeshifter baroness playing petty tricks!
“Nearly always she-wolves—only rarely male—they lure hunters into danger: into bogs in the autumn, onto patches of thin ice in winter. Or they trick a hunter into entering an estate where he is far from welcome. He need only show his face there for some tragic course of events to be set in motion, leading perhaps to his death or the death of one of his family.
Western cultures too have their werewolf legends. In some of these legends the she-wolves have no wish to do evil; they simply want to be free. A wife, perhaps, trapped in a forbidding castle, and always under the watchful eye of a cruel and unloved husband. Something inside her longs to break loose. She longs to roam field and forest, free and unbridled. And she doesn’t want to slip into the skin of a timid rabbit or a cautious fox. She doesn’t even choose the guise of a strong yet good-natured bear. Desperate to escape the yoke, she dreams fangs and claws. A dark and mighty strength, swift legs, a sinister howl. The imprisoned soul yearns for freedom; she who has been chained to the spot longs to run wild. The frightened heart seeks to frighten; the ruined, to avenge and ruin.”
The Kind That Walk - a carpenter who came back from the dead
“Just think—a man who has been carried off by the devil! How often, in our humdrum world, do we come face-to-face with such a person?”
Volya, 1952
"We Russians, the children of Old Russia, were born with this feeling of volya.
Peasant children, children of the rich bourgeoisie, children of the intelligentsia—regardless ofbackground and upbringing, allsensed and understood the call of volya.”
“There we have it—the eternal aim of the Russian soul.
To go where your eyes look.
Like in the old fairy tales—to go thither, I know not whither.”
“We Russians are not so cut off from nature as Europeans. We have only a thin over lay of culture; nature can quickly and easily pierce through it. In spring, when the earth awakes and her voices grow louder, summoning us to volya, we have no choice but to follow her resonant call. We are like mice in thrall to a medieval sorcerer playing a pipe.”
January 22, 2024
Bought from a used bookstore on a fluke. Worth every penny! Love the rich language and often satirical tone (though some stories like Yavdokha were much more tragic). Would consider it a great intro to Russian lit. Also recommend reading the translator’s note at the end about the process of conveying regional peasant dialects in English— super interesting!
July 26, 2024
latter stories were much more compelling than the earlier ones. perpetual sense i was missing something by reading a translation
March 31, 2025
very hard to not find something to like here. not as spooky as I expected but a lot more charming and I really liked the prose, so it works out
April 29, 2021
I've signed up a deal with New York Review of Book's Classic Book Clubs and Other Worlds: Peasants, Pilgrims, Spirits, Saints was the first book of the allocated 12 titles(one per month). My initial reaction to seeing the title was - bum- but I've read the stories and they were all fantastic. In a very Russian, quixotic, dusty sort of a fashion. I hope the remaining titles provide the same level of enjoyment. Teffi is worth reading about too.
May 7, 2021
Mystical, magical, curious, and playful. These stories haunt the mist floated over memory’s tepid, still, brackish waters.
September 6, 2024
Strange, sad, funny, these short pieces are quite wonderful.
January 23, 2023
A rather glorious collection of folk tales from the Russia of the early 20th century, which provide an incredible insight into the beliefs and lifestyle of the rural Russian population both before after 1917, but that is presented by Teffi as a timeless space full of nature, spirits, and ancient folklore and a thin line between worlds
June 30, 2021
"Real" rating - 3.5+ stars.
June 12, 2022
If you aren't on Litsy yet, please get the app and sign up now-it's an app designed just to share the joy of book reading, without the annoying performative element of Instagram. I was gifted this book by a friend on Litsy, and I love the app!
This is a deeply haunting collection of short stories by Teffi, who was an early 20th Century RUssian writer who later migrated to Paris. Teffi weaves in Russian folklore, religion, and the chaos of the present in her stories, in a style of writing that's completely unforgettable. The Russian Orthodox Church clearly absorbed several local traditions and beliefs ( as Christianity has done across the world where it's practised), and the stories reflect that-one in particular is a vivid description of a pilgrimage to a famous church. Teffi's descriptions are deeply evocative of the environment, and as you read, you can practically feel the Arctic winds blowing out from the pages at you. She brings out the hold that superstition and centuries of belief have over the popular imagination-even over educated people who should know better, when clearly human transgressions are blamed on mischievous sprites instead, and how that fosters a culture of elision and suppression of the truth, since everyone chooses to ignore the truth and accept the fantastical.
Most Indian children have grown up reading Soviet folk tales and fairytales, since it was a time when culture exchange with the Soviet Union( as it was) was being promoted, so I'm quite familiar with the folklore she refers to in her stories.
While Teffi grew up in St.Petersburg, after her marriage she moved to a small provincial town in the north, and some of the stories included in this collection are clearly autobiographical-in one fascinating story that combines fairytale with memoir, she writes of the heroine who survives a trip with a devil-but was he trying to harm her, or warn her from a worse fate? One of my favourite stories in the collection is one told from the perspective of Baba Yaga, and I know the original fairytale very well-I love Teffi's take on it from the perspective of the supposed witch-more a reminder of how youth and beauty are valued in women and how easy it's dismiss those who don't want to fit into those assigned tropes as unwanted. I want to read her other works too, this is definitely one of my top reads this year.
This is a deeply haunting collection of short stories by Teffi, who was an early 20th Century RUssian writer who later migrated to Paris. Teffi weaves in Russian folklore, religion, and the chaos of the present in her stories, in a style of writing that's completely unforgettable. The Russian Orthodox Church clearly absorbed several local traditions and beliefs ( as Christianity has done across the world where it's practised), and the stories reflect that-one in particular is a vivid description of a pilgrimage to a famous church. Teffi's descriptions are deeply evocative of the environment, and as you read, you can practically feel the Arctic winds blowing out from the pages at you. She brings out the hold that superstition and centuries of belief have over the popular imagination-even over educated people who should know better, when clearly human transgressions are blamed on mischievous sprites instead, and how that fosters a culture of elision and suppression of the truth, since everyone chooses to ignore the truth and accept the fantastical.
Most Indian children have grown up reading Soviet folk tales and fairytales, since it was a time when culture exchange with the Soviet Union( as it was) was being promoted, so I'm quite familiar with the folklore she refers to in her stories.
While Teffi grew up in St.Petersburg, after her marriage she moved to a small provincial town in the north, and some of the stories included in this collection are clearly autobiographical-in one fascinating story that combines fairytale with memoir, she writes of the heroine who survives a trip with a devil-but was he trying to harm her, or warn her from a worse fate? One of my favourite stories in the collection is one told from the perspective of Baba Yaga, and I know the original fairytale very well-I love Teffi's take on it from the perspective of the supposed witch-more a reminder of how youth and beauty are valued in women and how easy it's dismiss those who don't want to fit into those assigned tropes as unwanted. I want to read her other works too, this is definitely one of my top reads this year.
April 16, 2024
Absolutely fantastic. Think of the stories in A Sportsman's Sketches but with a light folk horror/borderline Aickmanesque bent; this book feels like it was made for me. All the stories are good, but they really kick off around "The Book of June," which is itself a lovely slice of coming of age with a powerfully mystical ending. From then on you have atmospheric gems like "Wild Evening," "The Witch," "Leshachika," and "House Spirit." As I said, the majority of the stories are in the typical rural realist Russian form, typically drawn from Teffi's own idyllic girlhood or mostly unhappy early married life, however they often have an occult bent, drawing inspiration from Slavic supernatural folk belief. Usually the supernatural presence is up-to-debate or questionable, in fact in stories like "The Bathhouse Devil" folk belief in devils and spirits is used to cover up all too human foibles. But then some seemingly supernatural occurrences, like in "Water Spirit" or "Vurdalak," are just a bit too odd to be ruled out as coincidences. The stories aren't truly scary by any means. But the eeriness and menace of a lost world of pagan beliefs, where vampire babies suck the life from their family members and water spirits lay in wait in bogs to drown hapless passersby, color them and build an incredible atmosphere equal parts nostalgic and ominous. They do remind me of some of Gogol's early stories of witchcraft and devilry in rural Ukraine, but Teffi is much more subtle in execution, making me think much more of Chechov or Turgenev's studies of country life in Tsarist Russia. It's worth noting that Teffi wrote much of these stories as a voluntary exile in Paris, and one feels a tangible and sometimes painful sense of longing for the sights, sounds, and characters of her homeland, which had ceased to properly exist after the Bolshevik Revolution for better or for worse (though I'm sure Teffi would feel the latter). I learned so much about Slavic folk belief from this book, and one wonders how these beliefs lived on in backwaters and quiet hamlets under the Soviets or even today. Either way, an incredible work from an underrated Russian author. NYRB are doing God's work by keeping these stories accessible and around.
July 22, 2023
If, one fine morning in Old Mother Russia, you are out for a ramble through the countryside, and you happen upon a beautiful but sad young woman sitting in a steam looking piteously in your direction, do not attempt to render her aid. The tears are a device to lure you to her, the reason she is sitting in the stream is because her bottom half is a fish, and it will not go well for you at all. Water spirits are like that.
There’s also the bathhouse spirit, and various types of were-creatures; were-wolf, were-dog, and curiously enough, were-cat. (What would the later do to you? Claw up your legs? Trip you on the stairs? Enquiring minds want to know.) But the most important spirit is the house spirit. Every hut has one, and it’s a good idea to stay on its good side. They tend to be temperamental, and if you want your bread to rise, or your fire not suddenly go out on a cold winter’s night, it’s best to keep it pleased and complemented.
Then there’s Baba Yaga, she of the house of chicken feet fame. Turns out she is not especially evil, but more an agent of chaos because she just gets so bored.
Baba Yaga! Terrible old hag! Accursed man-eater! How wonderful you are with your song and your crystal eyes! You are a GODDESS. So take me into your death - which is better than life.
The blizzard falls silent. It’s warm and dark in the little hut on chicken legs. The broom stands in the corner, exchanging winks with the pestle. The faithless cat purrs sleepily, stretching his back, pretending . .
Baba Yaga is lying on the stove. Water drips onto the floor from her icy hair. A bony leg sticks out from under some rags.
Boring. Boring. B - o - r - I - n - g.
Pre-Christian Russia seems like a rather magical place, and who wouldn’t want a house spirit, on whom to blame everything gone wrong?
There’s also the bathhouse spirit, and various types of were-creatures; were-wolf, were-dog, and curiously enough, were-cat. (What would the later do to you? Claw up your legs? Trip you on the stairs? Enquiring minds want to know.) But the most important spirit is the house spirit. Every hut has one, and it’s a good idea to stay on its good side. They tend to be temperamental, and if you want your bread to rise, or your fire not suddenly go out on a cold winter’s night, it’s best to keep it pleased and complemented.
Then there’s Baba Yaga, she of the house of chicken feet fame. Turns out she is not especially evil, but more an agent of chaos because she just gets so bored.
Baba Yaga! Terrible old hag! Accursed man-eater! How wonderful you are with your song and your crystal eyes! You are a GODDESS. So take me into your death - which is better than life.
The blizzard falls silent. It’s warm and dark in the little hut on chicken legs. The broom stands in the corner, exchanging winks with the pestle. The faithless cat purrs sleepily, stretching his back, pretending . .
Baba Yaga is lying on the stove. Water drips onto the floor from her icy hair. A bony leg sticks out from under some rags.
Boring. Boring. B - o - r - I - n - g.
Pre-Christian Russia seems like a rather magical place, and who wouldn’t want a house spirit, on whom to blame everything gone wrong?
December 4, 2022
Delightful, penetrating, absorbing, I was taken away on numerous paths to far off places to feel the closeness of a winter's breath, the musky smells and eerie shifting depths of bogs, the sharp quick shifts in wind of deepest forests, the abrupt vision of flocks of birds suddenly soaring overhead in skies of paling pink.
Go in doors and things grow strange. The unseen spirits that rule the hearth and stove, those that trip up the unaware or that break the monotony of routine with a start, jerking the senses back to an all consuming present where then the swells of danger crowd around like so many silent chattering mina birds. Warning. Then the silence of awareness comes that all is not what we thought.
If we are lucky, the smell of horses and the rustling, pecking chickens, the smoke from the fire, the rattle of the samovar, or a whimpering dog, the soft reassurances of nyanya or the coachman can for now settle the uncertainty. But they are not immune from the forces of nature, the weather, the forces in the forest that can gleam like wolves eyes at night. Or the wind in the trees. They all have memories and desires of their kind too.
Go in doors and things grow strange. The unseen spirits that rule the hearth and stove, those that trip up the unaware or that break the monotony of routine with a start, jerking the senses back to an all consuming present where then the swells of danger crowd around like so many silent chattering mina birds. Warning. Then the silence of awareness comes that all is not what we thought.
If we are lucky, the smell of horses and the rustling, pecking chickens, the smoke from the fire, the rattle of the samovar, or a whimpering dog, the soft reassurances of nyanya or the coachman can for now settle the uncertainty. But they are not immune from the forces of nature, the weather, the forces in the forest that can gleam like wolves eyes at night. Or the wind in the trees. They all have memories and desires of their kind too.
December 30, 2024
This was an interesting book. Not what I expected.
I had read "The Dog" in an anthology of Russian magic stories a couple of years ago. It is a terrific story, sort-of a werewolf tale, but not exactly. Still, it was akin to a horror story.
The stories in "Other Worlds" are interesting but not like "Western" horror or fantasy fiction. There are encounters with the strange. A woman goes to a monastery and sees a young man who is accused of being a vampire. Unnerved, she leaves, and we never find out the why or what of the incident.
A lot of the stories have to do with childhood and how children perceive and process what adults tell them. So in one story, a spirit in the bathhouse is blamed for some mischief, but the reader suspects that the child's father is hiding an extramarital affair.
Some of these stories actually reminded me of Benchley and Thurber in their look at the past, but not all of the childhood stories here were funny. Some were starkly tragic, the childhood perspective "hiding" the pain of the matter.
I am definitely glad I read this collection.
I had read "The Dog" in an anthology of Russian magic stories a couple of years ago. It is a terrific story, sort-of a werewolf tale, but not exactly. Still, it was akin to a horror story.
The stories in "Other Worlds" are interesting but not like "Western" horror or fantasy fiction. There are encounters with the strange. A woman goes to a monastery and sees a young man who is accused of being a vampire. Unnerved, she leaves, and we never find out the why or what of the incident.
A lot of the stories have to do with childhood and how children perceive and process what adults tell them. So in one story, a spirit in the bathhouse is blamed for some mischief, but the reader suspects that the child's father is hiding an extramarital affair.
Some of these stories actually reminded me of Benchley and Thurber in their look at the past, but not all of the childhood stories here were funny. Some were starkly tragic, the childhood perspective "hiding" the pain of the matter.
I am definitely glad I read this collection.
April 15, 2022
3.5
The line between folk belief and Orthodox Christianity within the culture of these stories was fascinating to me, showing a transitional period. It is telling which characters held onto the old ways (not just the nanyas) and which ones reject 'superstitious' belief. I felt the world I was introduced to was real, even if I don't believe in some of the folk aspects of it. I believed it within the stories. This book has also introduced me to some new titles concerned with Russian folklore that I am hunting down for research purposes.
Teffi is funny! Her satire holds up, over 70 years later. Her characters are fleshed out and unique. She possesses quite an insightful eye for psychology.
Not all of the stories were great, as is what always happens in collections like this, but the spiritual and cultural through line was present throughout. I really enjoyed delving into these realistic fairytales.
The line between folk belief and Orthodox Christianity within the culture of these stories was fascinating to me, showing a transitional period. It is telling which characters held onto the old ways (not just the nanyas) and which ones reject 'superstitious' belief. I felt the world I was introduced to was real, even if I don't believe in some of the folk aspects of it. I believed it within the stories. This book has also introduced me to some new titles concerned with Russian folklore that I am hunting down for research purposes.
Teffi is funny! Her satire holds up, over 70 years later. Her characters are fleshed out and unique. She possesses quite an insightful eye for psychology.
Not all of the stories were great, as is what always happens in collections like this, but the spiritual and cultural through line was present throughout. I really enjoyed delving into these realistic fairytales.
May 17, 2024
While I love Teffi's biographical writings, her story-telling can be a bit difficult to follow. This collection includes 25 of her stories primarily involving Russian folklore of the early 20th century, as well as a foreword and an afterword. Most of the stories are told in a diary-type format, of someone simply writing a narrative, as in "this happened, and then that happened," with little development of an actual plot. In many of the stories, Teffi includes a type of introductory preface to the actual story that is longer than the story itself. I enjoyed "Volya," the final story, the most, which is more of an essay, as well as the book's recently written foreword and afterword. I also learned quite a bit about Russian beliefs. But overall, I appreciate Teffi's other writings more, such as her own biography, including her interaction with Rasputin, her life as an emigree in Paris, etc.
July 11, 2022
Admittedly it was hard for me to get into some of these stories because of my lack of understanding of Russian folk lore and culture, and names! The foreword, afterword and translator's notes really helped me appreciate more the intricacies of Teffi's language, which is unfortunately lost in translation to a large extent. I liked the stories "Dog", "Baba Yaga" and "Shapeshifters". After reading "The Kind That Walk" twice, I finally got it! So I will keep this book and re-read it in the future - maybe then more of the stories will make sense to me.
November 27, 2021
Full disclosure: I contributed to the translation of one of the stories.
I love Teffi. Her writing in its lyrical simplicity sweeps you back into a Russia where spirits and shape-changers are an accepted fact of reality. If you love Russian folklore, this book will surprise and delight you.
I love Teffi. Her writing in its lyrical simplicity sweeps you back into a Russia where spirits and shape-changers are an accepted fact of reality. If you love Russian folklore, this book will surprise and delight you.
December 16, 2023
Wonderful translations of very striking and engrossing stories. I love Teffi's casual narration and her ear for dialogue. The stories have an eerie and atmospheric quality, suffused also with Teffi's sense of humor, though some of them are quite sad. Great collection.
July 5, 2021
It grew on me, bit by bit. If you’re initially put off, give it time. It repays patience.
August 28, 2021
как я скучаю по русской деревне…
October 5, 2021
Teffi is such an amazing writer, it's shameful that this woman has been ignored -- she should be up there with all the great storytellers, the scintillating women.
February 1, 2024
I was very sad to finish, but now to go off and read all the translated works of Teffi I can find.
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